Jessica wins reader £3,000

Jessica Gorst-Williams secures another payout for a Telegraph reader.

Phoenix rises to the occasion at last

I wrote to Phoenix 10 months ago stating that, as my policy was paid up and not accruing any interest, I was considering using it to pay towards funeral plans for myself and my wife in due course. It sent me a quotation and surrender papers of £2,957. I telephoned to inquire if the amount could be paid direct to the funeral directors. The total bill amounts to £5,200.

AD Lymington

Four months after that a different quotation, this time for £2,981, came back accompanied by surrender papers. There was no letter. You wrote asking for a response to your correspondence and only received a different quotation for £2,870. Still there was no letter.

You wrote again reminding the insurer that you were 90 years old and wanted it sorted out. Then you heard that the matter had been redirected to the complaints department. You retorted that you hadn’t complained. A month after that, the insurer sent you £25. You wrote back saying you did not need this compensation and it could be deducted from the payout. The insurer replied: “This policy has not matured, it is a whole life policy and will never mature.” Some forms and another quotation were enclosed, now for £2,887. You responded that, among other things, you had taken this out more than 40 years ago and there was a huge difference between £2,887 and £3,500, the sum assured. You said you would accept £3,250 considering the circumstances.

You didn’t hear back and wrote to me. By then the surrender value was back up to £2,904. To apologise for the poor service you received, Phoenix has now added £700 to the surrender value, giving you £3,604 in total.

Barclaycard refunds £150 and cuts interest rate on card

I received notification from Egg that it intended to increase the rate of interest that applied to an established Visa account I had, from 16.9pc to 21.9pc in two months from the date of the letter. The letter advised me of the ability to opt out, which I did that same month online. I was sent no acknowledgement and so made a note of the time and date on the interest correspondence.

I had thought this registration sufficient but this appears not to be the case. I was next aware that all was not well when I received correspondence from Barclaycard that it was in the process of taking over Egg’s business. On reading the terms and conditions, I was dismayed to note that the interest rate that was to apply was 21.9pc. I called Barclaycard to advise them that the interest was incorrect. Despite talking to several people, none could advise.

My new Barclaycard confirmed it intended to charge interest at 21.9pc. I contacted Egg online and it confirmed that interest would be 16.9pc. I wrote to Barclaycard but it seems to remain of the view that the appropriate interest rate is 21.9pc.

Six months have passed since this issue was first broached.

SB London

At the root of this is the right of consumers to opt out of a higher rate of interest should one be imposed on their credit card. No more spending will be allowed on the card but the remaining balance can be paid off in the same way as it was before, at the old rate of interest.

My investigations found out that Egg had in fact refunded the £15.92 which had been overpaid on the account when it was with it. However, when Egg migrated to Barclaycard, the new card company said it did not receive notification that you had opted out of this increased interest rate.

Further to my involvement, Barclaycard reduced the interest rate to 16.9pc and made up the £144.63 discrepancy that had applied to your Barclaycard account since it came from Egg. It also sent you £100 for goodwill.

I can’t get money out of my Giro account

I have a problem with Santander, which is sitting on a balance of £606 in a current account which I cannot get them to repay. Originally this was a Giro account which I started more than 20 years ago to use for small purchases. Then in 1996, Giro was taken over by Alliance & Leicester, but it was when A&L was taken over by Santander that the problems started.

KA Spain

You were first alerted that something was wrong when a £105 cheque bounced and the would-be beneficiary was informed that the account had been closed. You speculated incorrectly that the chequebook you were using might be out of date.

You sent your passport and last statement to retrieve the balance but it wasn’t forthcoming. You tried calling one of the people who had written to you along the way, quoting the latest reference number. They pleaded ignorance of the matter and, after questioning you for 10 minutes, transferred you to someone else who said “can I help?”. Then you were cut off. This, I am afraid, being an all too familiar scenario for anyone making a call to various providers these days. You did try again but that proved futile and so, at 85 and with health problems, you wrote to me.

Santander said that the system had incorrectly shown the transaction previous to the problematic one as having been made eight months before when it actually had been. So, because of the perceived inactivity in the account, a dormancy block had been placed on the account.

The £606 balance has now been sent to you, along with £150 for goodwill.